This report contains information about my failure to get my CardBus NICs working correctly. Hardware involved is: Sony VAIO PCG-FX210 laptop (800Mhz Duron...) DFE-650 16-bit PCMCIA NIC x2 3Com Megahertz 32-bit 3CCFE575BT NIC x2 AmbiCom 32-bit 8100 NIC (tulip) x2 Software: RH 7.1, plus all RH updates. PCMCIA services are disabled via ntsvc Kernel is 2.4.7, and the kernel.config is attached. It is basically RedHat's 2.4.3+ config. (RH 7.1 with it's standard 2.4.2 or upgrade 2.4.3-12 kernel doesn't work either, or I wouldn't have tried all this other stuff!) The basic problem is that I cannot get any combination of these cards to work in the laptop. There are more problems with the bottom slot (slot 1) than the top slot (slot 0). lspci capture is attached. kernel.config is attached. dmesg capture is attached. Chapter 1, AmbiCom in slot 1 hangs the sytem untill removed. Here is insert of the first one, it seems to work: Jul 22 10:13:36 lanforge-ice kernel: cs: cb_alloc(bus 2): vendor 0x1011, device 0x0019 Jul 22 10:13:36 lanforge-ice kernel: got res[2000:207f] for resource 0 of PCI device 1011:0019 Jul 22 10:13:36 lanforge-ice kernel: got res[10800000:108003ff] for resource 1 of PCI device 1011:0019 Jul 22 10:13:36 lanforge-ice kernel: got res[10400000:1043ffff] for resource 6 of PCI device 1011:0019 Jul 22 10:13:36 lanforge-ice kernel: PCI: Enabling device 02:00.0 (0000 -> 0003) Jul 22 10:13:36 lanforge-ice kernel: Linux Tulip driver version 0.9.15-pre6 (July 2, 2001) Jul 22 10:13:36 lanforge-ice kernel: PCI: Setting latency timer of device 02:00.0 to 64 Jul 22 10:13:36 lanforge-ice kernel: tulip0: EEPROM default media type Autosense. Jul 22 10:13:36 lanforge-ice kernel: tulip0: Index #0 - Media MII (#11) described by a 21142 MII PHY (3) block. Jul 22 10:13:36 lanforge-ice kernel: tulip0: MII transceiver #1 config 1000 status 7849 advertising 01e1. Jul 22 10:13:36 lanforge-ice kernel: eth1: Digital DS21143 Tulip rev 65 at 0x2000, 00:10:7A:18:B5:F9, IRQ 9. Jul 22 10:13:36 lanforge-ice /etc/hotplug/net.agent: register event not handled When I insert the second one, the machine hangs untill I remove it. When it is removed, after about 2 seconds, this is printed to /var/log/messages: Jul 22 10:13:59 lanforge-ice kernel: cs: socket c1244000 timed out during reset. Try increasing setup_delay. The machine hangs any time I place the tulip card in slot 1, regardless of what is or isn't in slot 0. Chapter 2, 3Com screws up too: If the machine is booted (dmesg output attached) with both 3Com NICs inserted, the second one in slot 1 is not detected. If I remove and re-insert it, it fails to be detected correctly: Jul 22 10:35:55 lanforge-ice kernel: PCI: device 06:00.0 has unknown header type 7f, ignoring. Jul 22 10:35:55 lanforge-ice kernel: PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 06:00.0. Please try using pci=biosirq. Jul 22 10:35:55 lanforge-ice kernel: PCI: device 06:00.1 has unknown header type 7f, ignoring. Jul 22 10:35:55 lanforge-ice kernel: PCI: device 06:00.2 has unknown header type 7f, ignoring. Jul 22 10:35:55 lanforge-ice kernel: PCI: device 06:00.3 has unknown header type 7f, ignoring. Jul 22 10:35:55 lanforge-ice kernel: PCI: device 06:00.4 has unknown header type 7f, ignoring. Jul 22 10:35:55 lanforge-ice kernel: PCI: device 06:00.5 has unknown header type 7f, ignoring. Jul 22 10:35:55 lanforge-ice kernel: PCI: device 06:00.6 has unknown header type 7f, ignoring. Jul 22 10:35:55 lanforge-ice kernel: PCI: device 06:00.7 has unknown header type 7f, ignoring. Jul 22 10:35:55 lanforge-ice /etc/hotplug/pci.agent: ... no drivers for PCI slot If I remove it and re-insert it again, it is detected, but can't find MII. If I wait too long between removal and re-insertion, it does not work. Jul 22 10:37:08 lanforge-ice kernel: cs: cb_alloc(bus 6): vendor 0x10b7, device 0x5157 Jul 22 10:37:08 lanforge-ice kernel: got res[2800:287f] for resource 0 of PCI device 10b7:5157 Jul 22 10:37:08 lanforge-ice kernel: got res[11000000:1100007f] for resource 1 of PCI device 10b7:5157 Jul 22 10:37:08 lanforge-ice kernel: got res[11000080:110000ff] for resource 2 of PCI device 10b7:5157 Jul 22 10:37:08 lanforge-ice kernel: got res[10c00000:10c1ffff] for resource 6 of PCI device 10b7:5157 Jul 22 10:37:08 lanforge-ice kernel: PCI: Enabling device 06:00.0 (0000 -> 0003) Jul 22 10:37:08 lanforge-ice kernel: 06:00.0: 3Com PCI 3CCFE575BT Cyclone CardBus at 0x2800, PCI: Setting laten cy timer of device 06:00.0 to 64 Jul 22 10:37:08 lanforge-ice kernel: 00:50:da:d2:98:bf, IRQ 10 Jul 22 10:37:08 lanforge-ice kernel: product code 5a48 rev 07.1 date 06-20-00 Jul 22 10:37:08 lanforge-ice kernel: 06:00.0: CardBus functions mapped 11000080->c887f080 Jul 22 10:37:08 lanforge-ice kernel: 8K byte-wide RAM 5:3 Rx:Tx split, MII interface. Jul 22 10:37:08 lanforge-ice kernel: ***WARNING*** No MII transceivers found! Jul 22 10:37:08 lanforge-ice kernel: Enabling bus-master transmits and whole-frame receives. Jul 22 10:37:08 lanforge-ice kernel: 06:00.0: scatter/gather disabled. h/w checksums enabled Jul 22 10:37:09 lanforge-ice /etc/hotplug/net.agent: register event not handled Jul 22 10:37:09 lanforge-ice kernel: eth2: using default media MII If I now attach cables to these NICs (cross-over cables, connected to eepro NICs on the other side), then I do not get link light on the NIC in slot 1, though slot 0 has 100bt link. If I change the cables, slot 1 is still failed and slot 0 remains good: It is the NICs. If I change the NICs, the problem is still on slot 1. Chapter 3: D-LINK DFE-650 not supported in 2.4.7. These 16-bit NICs actually work with RH 7.1, although they start dropping large amounts of packets after running at 1Mbps after 5 minutes or so. They also work equally well in slot 0 or slot 1. They do not work at all in 2.4.7, because (I imagine) the driver is not included. So, does anyone have any ideas? I really want to get three ethernet NICs (one built-in) working in some laptop. At least two of the NICs need to be able to auto-negotiate and run at a sustained 1.54Mbps bi-directional. I'm willing to buy any NICs that will work, and getting a new laptop is an option too. I can offer more debug information, up to and including letting someone log into the laptop over it's built-in (RTL) NIC and play around... Any and all help will be greatly appreciated! Thanks, Ben -- Ben Greear President of Candela Technologies Inc http://www.candelatech.com ScryMUD: http://scry.wanfear.com http://scry.wanfear.com/~greear